Blending of fats of animal or vegetable origin in either liquid or crystallized form into a food product is well-known. The use of prior art techniques, however, very often resulted in the formation of lumps or, when high doses of fats were used, in the production of pasty masses having little or no homogeneity or fluidity. Such products cannot be readily portioned or metered and cannot, therefore, be easily packaged for sale.
Direct refigeration of solids in granular form by evaporation of liquefied gas is also known. A freezing agent, added in liquid form to the product to be frozen, removes heat by evaporation thus creating the freezing effect.
It is also known that granulated solids such as spices can be cooled directly by the evaporation of a liquefied gas or, where solid CO.sub.2 is used, by sublimation of carbonic snow or dry ice fragments of indiscriminate size and shape as is described in Swiss Pat. No. 363,554. This approach has not been satisfactory since the heat generated during the grinding operation results in a sticky mass or, when spices are used, causes the essential oils of the spices to melt or actually volatilize resulting in loss of product.